The deal comes down to a vote by Polk County commissioners on Jan. 21, one day before the purchase contract expires. The elected officials propose to have tourists pay for the county's $2.5-million acquisition of the 68-year-old park's 30-acre botanical gardens. They estimated raising the county's 4% bed tax by a penny on hotel rooms and short-term rental homes would generate $850,000 in annual revenue, or $3.4 million, for the four-year term of the special tax. The tax would revert to 4% after the last payment is made to the Trust For Public Land, a Washington, DC environmental group.
Polk County industrial brokers familiar with the deal tell GlobeSt.com the commissioners' vote will be unanimous even though some Tourist Development Council members feel the additional penny tax move should be discussed more fully with the entire council.
The Trust set up the funding plan to keep Cypress Gardens from being sold to private commercial real estate interests, as GlobeSt.com previously reported.
Under the deal, which still has to be approved by Gov. Jeb Bush and his six-member Cabinet, the trust would pay Cypress Gardens owners Larry Maxwell and William Reynolds $22 million, or $154,930 per acre. The trust then would sell 120 acres to Kent Buescher, owner-operator of the Wild Adventures attraction in Valdosta, GA for $7 million, or $58,333 per acre. Buescher plans to re-open the park on Memorial Day, May 31.
The remaining 30-acre botanical gardens, considered the centerpiece of the park, would be purchased by Polk County and the City of Winter Haven for $2.5 million, or $83,333 per acre.
The third leg of the deal involves the state government itself. The trust is asking the state to pay $11 million for development rights. Gov. Bush and his Cabinet are scheduled to review the deal Jan. 27. If the entire deal gets done, the trust would net $20.5 million, or about $141,666 per acre, brokers following the deal tell GlobeSt.com.
The trust also has an option to separately buy another 7.1 acres on Swann Point at the north end of the botanical gardens.
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